I don't think we should make a reason as to why these people are stuck in the past. We can definitely have them suggest theories, but seeing as these are random people from all over the globe, you can't just say "it's the scientists" now. Keeping it simple would be better since adding anything else would start throwing even
more holes in the plot than there already seems to be. Especially if we want to stick with "realism."
I totally agree w/
@Mistress too, and even suggest that we all choose a specific year to jump into instead of trying to figure out a thousand years of history. Medieval languages are vastly different from the ones we use now, and so I'm also wondering as to what the characters will be doing. Like, are they all running around speaking in English as we know it now? So then, how would they interact with NPCs?